“I am a hybrid. I do independent films and also do Hollywood films – I love them both.” Spike Lee According to the recent series of reports published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on December 10th, 2019, trading in global Foreign Exchange (FX)…
“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” Jean De La Fontaine The shift in the provision of financial intermediation away from traditional banks towards the shadow banking system highlights the evolving structure of financial market. The recent disorder…
“If keeping track of all the new stuff feels overwhelming, that’s kind of the point. Amazon wants people to feel like it’s coming out with so much that no one can keep up.”
Every September we begin to see the signs that the fall season is on the horizon. The temperature starts to cool, the leaves start changing colors, and Starbucks begins selling Pumpkin Spice Lattes. As a common fall harvest vegetable, pumpkins have always been associated with…
Whole Foods announced on May 20 it would stop offering plastic straws in all of its stores. Other companies such as Starbucks and McDonald’s are taking the same steps. Meanwhile, some states and cities, including San Francisco and Seattle, are banning plastic straws or discouraging…
Although only 6 percent of the U.S. identifies as vegan, animal-free foods like meatless burgers and veggie-based snacks have exploded in popularity recently. This video looks at why the animal alternative market could grow into a $140 billion industry as consumers include more vegan foods in their diets.
You probably don’t expect to learn much about economics in Food & Wine magazine, but here is a great story about the “craft fishing” industry. It includes economic concepts such as “catch shares” (to decrease overfishing), economies of scale, and product differentiation and improving quality to move a market from perfect competition to monopolistic competition. It details how one fisherman has worked to change the supply chain to a direct-to-consumer model that provides the consumer (restaurants) with higher quality fish that they can sell to discerning diners at higher prices, and also helps the fishermen ensure adequate compensation for their efforts.
This article may be a bit dated, but it’s an intriguing story about the difficult moral situations that sometimes come about in markets. In most urban areas, property or sales taxes are used to fund a fire department, which puts out any fire in the city. But in some rural areas, there are not enough people to support a fire department, so they have to purchase fire insurance from a nearby fire department. What happens when you don’t pay your annual fire insurance bill and your house catches on fire? Read the story to find out.